New Poll: ReviewMe - Capitalizing on Potential Revenue
Its been quite a while since we’ve had a poll here on Blogtrepreneur. One of the primary reasons behind this was a problem concerning the Democracy plugin which I used to use regularly. Recently, the bug that was causing SEO problems was fixed, so I downloaded the new Version 2.0.1 and put it in the right sidebar to get more of your reader opinions.
Polls will again last for 1 week only so as not to drag them on. All Im asking for is 10 seconds of your time to place your vote as this will help me also to get demographics regarding the makeup of my readers. Its also a bit of fun. As a side note, Darren had some problems with the plugin and sidebar compatibility so if there’s a design problem, I may have to take the poll down - for now though its functioning fine.
On our hands this week Im debating the motion of whether to keep doing paid reviews by ReviewMe. I know, I know, you’re probably thinking that you’ve heard way too much of the subject, but I really want to get conclusive evidence as to whether paid posts are harming my blog.
As you may recall, a month or so ago, I reviewed the service. Since then I have been paid $30 to do another review. After each post was published I noticed a significant drop in subscribers. On top of this I got a comment saying that $30 just wasn’t worth it. However, this amount happens to be more than I earn per month with TextLinkAds (by a few cents!), and a whole lot more than Adsense.
Im stuck in the middle and need your help to decide what to do. I’ll let this run until next Sunday or Monday before releasing the final results and making my mind up. So if you’re reading by RSS - click on the my link to vote, and head on over to halfway down the right sidebar.
I didn’t even realize they were still doing it. I haven’t heard anything from them since my first two reviews. It’s been long past 27 days, but at least I got paid.
I had thought that site would take off like PP did, but it doesn’t look like it. ;( Oh well, back to finding other ways to make money. I have a small traffic site, so most of my readers seem to be someone looking for ways to make money, thankfully I didn’t lose any readers.
Here’s my thoughts on the issue. If you are blogging to make money or to explore the ways to make money, you owe it to yourself to at least give paid review work a chance.
I know that building readership is critical too, and you’re also not the type of person to arbitraily ignore other people’s wishes but the simple fact is whatever you do you will fail to please everyone.
As a fellow named Ricky Nelson once crooned, “… ya can’t please everyone, so ya got to please yourself …”
The top-echelon bloggers that I read may agonize in private over how they should structure their blogs but they seldom spend much time posting about it. Or so Dave opines…..
Thanks for your insights Dave and Homemom.
HomeMom - yeah I agree with you. ReviewMe seemed to have the database and users behind it to really make it huge. I think the problem is a lack of advertisers willing to part with so much money.
But the money is good for us publishers!
Dave - Im glad that I did give ReviewMe a chance and to be fair it worked well in terms of ease of use and payment. Yes, there are people who dislike my work - hopefully not too many - but critics exist everywhere. On the other hand, I’d rather please the majority of readers rather than the minority. Such polls help me to decide which way my readership is leaning.
That’s why I let you in on these debates. People like Darren Rowse know their direction and stances now, but in the beginning Im sure they asked their readers questions on preference, otherwise they wouldn’t be where they are today.
Readers and subscribership build blogs just how loyal customers build business. But thanks for your insight - always appreciated
Hi Adnan,
I believe if you want to monetize your blog then by all means, take on paid reviews when it makes sense to do so - which means when the review fits the theme of your blog and you can produce an entertaining post for your readers “around” the review.
It’s clear you are worried about losing readers when you do paid reviews. Here’s a way to minimise the risk - whenever you do a paid review, post 2-3 non-paid review blog posts along with it. If you publish like 5 posts a day and one happens to be a paid review but they are all relevant and interesting you are not going to lose readers.
It’s only an issue when you make it an issue or when you don’t satisfy your audience. If all you ever did was paid reviews then obviously you wouldn’t satisfy your audience, but I know you won’t be doing that.
Cheers,
Yaro
Hey Yaro,
Thanks a lot for dropping by. Maybe I am making too big a deal out of this - its a simple question of doing the review but making sure that its relevant and not a blatant ad for the site.
But good tip - whilst I don’t write more than 2 posts in a day, I could try posting the paid review and then a “proper” article straight after.
I noticed that you just did a paid review but you blended it in with the main theme of your site - internet business.
Satisfying my audience is my main priority - hence why I wanted your feedback. Im glad now that I’ve probably found an answer - doing paid reviews are fine if thats not all you do.
Blogs are only successful if they offer something of real value to the reader and whilst not all my posts may do this (including the reviews) - the remainder should account for the satisfaction. Thanks for your help in making me decide!
Adnan, I have to say I voted ‘No’ in your poll, but I can agree with Dave’s and Yaro’s comments, too. I do think it’s a fine line, but I’m certainly not against making money in any ethical and smart way you can.
I do think a deluge of paid reviews will definitely hurt if not destroy any blogger’s reputation. With that said, if a review is written and it is in line with the topic of your blog and your own interests, then I think it can be okay. I think I would write such a review, but I would be very careful in choosing what to review.
It seems to me that if these guidelines are followed, it’s not much different from including affiliate links for other products or services you post about.